Prepared for:

Mary Adams
Marys Books
114 W. Lake Street
Oak Park, IL 60302

Key Consulting, Inc.

Opening the Door to your Success

Marys Books Proposal

Contact Us:
Key Consulting, Inc.
1477 E. Frontier Avenue
Oak Park, IL 60304

Submitted:
October 23, 2014
30-000019-001

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Marys Books Proposal

Marys Books Proposal 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary ........................................................................................2

Your Current Situation ....................................................................................3
Issues ...............................................................................................................4
Needs...............................................................................................................5
Our Objectives ................................................................................................5
Our Methods ...................................................................................................5
Qualifications ..................................................................................................7
Biographies .....................................................................................................8
Budget .............................................................................................................9
Benefits ...........................................................................................................9
Appendices.................................................................................................... 11
Appendix A............................................................................................ 11
Appendix B ...........................................................................................12
Appendix C ...........................................................................................13
Appendix D ...........................................................................................14

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Executive Summary
Our plan will underline whether or not you are in competition with Borders and what
steps are necessary to ensure your future success as a local business.
Your Current Situation:
We intend to provide you with a complete understanding of your current situation as a
business.
Our Objectives:
The analysis of employees, customers, and the community will assist us in understanding your situation, as well as continue to further your drive for local business and diversity.
Our Methods:
Community Driven Research:
We will conduct comprehensive surveys that will be vital in determining if Borders is
in direct competition, and broaden our understanding of the community.
Also we would like to interview shop owners within your building, by creating even
stronger ties to these stores we hope to induce positive reinforcement.
Diversity and Outreach:
We will develop a focus group within your employee base of women, single parents
and minorities in order to gauge the opportunities and benefits you have provided.
We would like to develop a book sharing program at the K-12 schools which will
allow you to hire more within the diverse community and market Marys Books and
Marys Children stores to students, teachers and parents.
Historical and Educational Research within the Community:
We will research the value that history, established tradition and community stability
plays in the sales of books.
We will interview students of all ages and their parents about the importance that
books and new technology play in their lives and determine ways that a community
bookstore can better service that need.
Our Qualifications:
In twenty five years, Key Consulting has aided more than two hundred small companies
in furthering their business. We have achieved an understanding of how communities
operate and we continue to grow and gain more intuition as the years go by.
The Benefits of Our Plan:
Our firm prides itself on the efficiency and timeliness that we ensure on each project and
with every client who hires us. Among our values of timeliness and efficiency, relationship development is at the forefront of each client interaction, which we make an effort
to continue well after each contract ends.We thank you for your time consideration.

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Marys Books Proposal 3

Your Current Situation:

Marys Books is an iconic staple in the Oak Park community. A profitable independent bookstore for over 25 years, you have been an integral part of the Chicago area
economy and community, a site filled with local icons, rich history, and literature that is
incomparable. With strong ties to the local community around, Marys Books diligently
supports women and minorities and pushes for literacy. Marys Books is insistent on
keeping a community driven image and providing materials that are unique and shed
light on the historical city of Oak Park. By hiring local personnel of varying backgrounds,
and striving for a community based feel Marys Books sets itself apart from large bookstore chains and other stores that lack emphasis on shared community values.
A unique town, with one of a kind shops and businesses, Oak Park is also known for
its rich heritage, community based values and diverse population, all of which make
Oak Park extraordinary and appealing to many tourists in and around the Chicago area.
From the influential Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ernest Hemingway, to the various Frank
Lloyd Wright designed homes, as well as his own home and studio. Oak Park is an
advocate for originality and free thinkers. A society that promotes an understanding and
appreciation of the history by collecting, preserving, and making available research materials and by providing outreach services to the community. Oak Park values diversity
and claims that it is the key to Oak Parks strength. In 1973 Oak Parks Village Trustees
enforced a policy statement about Maintaining Diversity in Oak Park, the broad representation of various occupations, professions, ages and income levels.
Borders, a nationwide brand, including well over 500 stores does not encompass the
same values that are so imperative to Oak Parks community. Borders big-box approach
has no regard for historical landmarks, lacks values integral to the community and does
not offer the same rewarding opportunities that you bring as a local, independent retailer. They are more than willing to destroy historically preserved buildings, like Wiedbolts
store, a local Art Moderne landmark, to put in a parking lot (See Appendix A). Obviously,
portraying the belief that they have no concern for history. The current home of Marys
Books is the former Marshall Fields building. Built in 1929 the building is a miniature
replica of the Marshall Field and Company building located in the Chicago Loop and a
twin to the Evanston store. Marys Books takes up about 4000 square feet of this building on the ground floor (See Appendix B). The location seems well suited to the store
having a lot of foot and car traffic.
It is clear that you embody the cultural and community values of Oak Park, unlike that
of Borders. Marys Books affiliates with the local college by providing discounts on
textbooks to college students. You provide meeting space for community members to
gather, and employ local people, especially those in women and minority groups who

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many times do not have as much access to the job opportunities or benefits that you
provide as an employer. Apart from being a successful, local, retailer and employer,
you are involved and have insight in the community. You are not only involved in United
Way, which has to do with enhancing the community and people in it, you take part as
a member of the local architecture and history organization. Which preserves and enriches the culture that sets Oak Park apart.

Issues:
After meeting with you on several occasions and analyzing your current situation, we
have come up with three areas of concern in which we will evaluate further and then arrange a course of action. The following three concerns are as follows:

Is Marys Books in competition with Borders?

What options are available/steps should you take to set Marys Books apart from
Borders stores, in order to stay away from any possible competition?
How can we revitalize Marys Books, and set your local, community-centered organization apart using limited resources in a short time frame?

After considering these main concerns, we will further research and create a plan based
off of your current situation to address your position as a company, and what we can do
to help set you apart as a retailer.

Needs:
Our main focus, at Key Consulting, is your main question of whether and to what degree Borders is in competition with you. We understand that once that is determined, a
method of reducing that affect can be formulated. We also want to assure you that as a
professional consulting team we will keep all results and statistics completely confidential. We realize that this is very important to you and will proceed with the utmost consideration. We will stand with you in analyzing this current situation and will help you take
any steps that you see fit in implementing the results of our teamwork. We acknowledge
how important preserving the sense of history and tradition Marys Books embodies and
how this cultural heritage is supported by your location in the historic Marshall Fields
Lake Avenue building in the village of Oak Park.
You will have a valued partner in Key Consulting and its staff. We want you to sense the
resolute assistance that we are more than capable of providing you, as we move forward together in a timely manner. We will balance your need for accurate information
with the requisite care that gaining that information necessitates. We will do everything
in our power to ensure a prosperous future for Marys Books.

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Marys Books Proposal 5

Our Objectives:
A high sense of community and a push for women and minorities will remain a vital factor in the conclusions drawn for Marys Books. Key Consulting is driven to resolve the
question of whether or not you are in competition with Borders, with goals to help advance Marys Books in the process. The analysis of employees, customer, and the community will assist us in understanding your situation, as well as continue to further your
drive for local business and diversity. Our strategy is to:

Relay surveys to the community to utilize public opinion of a diverse population.

In order to learn the role you play in the community and how they perceive Marys
Books.
Conduct employee focus groups to understand your work climate.
Further your connection with education in the community.
Research the prevalence of history in Oak Park to further our understanding of local
icons and their works displayed in your store.

Our research will be done in a manner suited to your community. Key Consulting favors
small business and will do everything we can to cater to your needs as a company. We
will in further detail explain the approach the plan we have to complete the objectives.
Our Methods:
Community Driven Research:
Key Consulting will grasp a higher understanding of the communitys involvement in
Marys Books, by conducting comprehensive surveys. These surveys will aid us in
discerning how the community feels about your business, and where Marys Books
stands in comparison to Borders. The questionnaire will consist of five simple multiple choice questions that all age groups can easily answer, as well as a comment
section for any extra advice or insight for your store. Questions of how often local
citizens visit Marys Books along with why they decide to shop with you. One inquiry
towards who in the community shops with you, in order to help you better understand
the demographics of your market. Another point that we will try to elicit is how your
store compare to other book stores, namely Borders, in the area. The response to
this question will allow us to indicate how Borders has impacted the community and
their thoughts on the chain store. We will also ask the public if there are any actions
that could be taken to make them stop by Marys Books more often. All of this information will be vital in determining if Borders is in direct competition, and as an added
benefit it will broaden our understanding of the surrounding community.
The surveys will reside in Marys Books and customers will be asked to complete
them. We will also spread these surveys wide by putting a small insert in the local
paper to broaden our outreach. The surveys that are sent out can be turned into
to Marys Books, and as an added benefit to the customers/community, upon your

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approval, may receive a coupon off their next purchase at your bookstore. This will
entice people to stop by the shop and give us the much needed information about
the communitys thoughts on your business.
Another useful tool we would like to incorporate would be to interview shop owners within your building. We will reach out to the surrounding businesses in order to
understand their opinions about big business versus the local shops within your community. Building a stronger connection to the neighboring business will help improve
the traffic of people in your area. We understand that you have a noncompetition
agreement with the businesses in your building, so by creating even stronger ties to
these stores we hope to induce positive reinforcement of the local shops. Strong relations between these companies may help other shop owners to defer their customers to you for their reading pleasure, and you could do the same for the other stores.

Diversity and Outreach:

Key Consulting will develop a focus group within your employee base made up of women, single parents and minorities in order to gauge the opportunities and benefits you
have provided as an employer and retailer. You are making and impact, and by conducting this focus group our growth analyst will be able to determine how large that impact
is, and how it sets you apart as a community member and employer. Diversity is a common theme within Oak Park, your efforts to capitalize on that involves you not only in the
community, but it sets you apart from Borders. Through the focus groups we will be able
to attain testimonies as well as personal accounts and feature those stories in order to
set your operation apart, and use it as a marketing tool within the community.
We believe it is in your best interest as a employer and community member to continue
your focus on women and minorities. We want to help you build off of what youre already doing by hiring more women and minorities and take your involvement one step
further. We would like to develop a book sharing program at the K-12 schools within
the community. This would allow you to be present in the K-12 schools, as well as give
you the opportunity to hire more employees from diverse backgrounds. Through extensive research we will get a grasp at the K-12 curriculum and determine what resources
Marys Books can share with the schools. This program will allow you to hire more within
the diverse community, as well as market Marys Books and Marys Childrens stores to
students, teachers and parents.

Historical and Educational Research within the Community:

Historical Research
Key Consulting will research the value that history, established tradition and community stability plays in the sales of books. We will also research how the importance and value you place on history and tradition obviously differs from Borders.

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We will access archival footage of the surrounding area and look at what changes
have happened in the past and in the recent history in the community Marys Books.
Since you place more value on the books covering the history and community of Oak
Park we will compare how your inventory in this section varies from Borders. We will
determine how that diversification and concentration on local history books increases
and affects your sales.
Educational Research
Key Consulting will interview elementary, high school and college age students about
the importance that books play in their lives and determine ways that a community
bookstore can better service that need. We will interview the parents of Oak Park
students and determine where they feel your bookstore can better help their children
make use of books in the completion of homework and in other areas.
Since, the field of education is using forms of technology to make classroom education more relevant to our fast moving culture, we will also conduct research with
these students to ascertain how you can better facilitate the advantages of this technology and usage. With your permission, we will also research ways to unite with local educators in bringing your inventory into the classroom in additional ways. Ways
such as eBook readers and eBook versions of your textbooks that already are there,
which should provide a competitive advantage to Borders. We will interview students
to determine how by Marys Books increasing your technology inventory will help
you increase sales. We will resolve as to whether having ebook versions of popular
titles and textbooks will provide a technological edge over Borders. We will also look
into whether having a sales inventory of popular tablets and other eBook readers will
provide a competitive edge.
Qualifications:
Key Consultings goals for Marys Book stand strong through our companys deep values set in our founding. Twenty five years ago two colleagues working in the well-known
consulting firm, Chicago Advising, decided some changes could be made to better the
organization. Chicago Advising had the sole ambition of aiding big business to create
less competition in communities. This attitude toward business agitated the two newly
hired consultants, Rachel Brighton and Nicole Andover. Brighton grew up in a small
town filled with small business that gave her community character. The same local businesses were devastated when a big name convenience store entered their community
and stole the business of three neighborhood shops. This infuriated Brighton and she
vowed to do all that she could in the future to ensure the success of local companies.
Nicole Andover on the other hand grew up in a suburb of Chicago that, as she describes
it, lacked originality and flavor. There were many small and large businesses, however,
each were hurting for a diverse group of employees. This deficit of culture in her community impacted her to join the National Diversity Council where she has been a member for over twenty seven years.

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The two women started working at Chicago Advising together and realized that their
values were not in line with this company. They began talking to each other and found
that they had similar opinions about business, and consulting in particular. Brighton and
Andover collaborated skills and ideas in order to create a new consulting firm. Key Consulting was founded on the belief that small business should have unending success,
and equal opportunities must be available to all people. These two independent women
focused their efforts on advancing local companies to enrich the community. They hired
a diverse group of people from the Chicago area who pulled expertise from their varying
backgrounds to fulfill their goal of all-encompassing knowledge. After a twenty five year
history, Key Consulting has aided more than two hundred small companies in furthering
their business, and still yearns to improve this number. We have achieved an understanding of how communities operate and we continue to grow and gain more intuition
as the years go by.
Key Consulting would be privileged to work with Marys Books. We value and appreciate
your advocacy for local business and push for women and minorities. We hope to bring
new insight into your particular case. Below are the biographies of the specialists who
would be honored to work on this project with you if chosen. Each has unique abilities
that we believe are well suited to your situation.

Biographies:
Growth Specialist:
Olivia Scott was born in Evanston, Illinois just north of the Chicago area. As a child she
always had a passion for small business. Her grandparents owned a small candy shop
in town, and she grew up working there and learning the ins and outs of owning a company. Through this process she knew she wanted to go to into business and continue
her education in a more academic setting. Olivia went on to pursue a business degree
at Columbia College in Chicago where she specialized in business growth. Since then
she has helped over 30 companies improve the growth and expansion of their business,
through local knowledge and expertise in the Chicago area. She became a specialist in
the field of reviewing organizations and their ability of growth continuation or recession.
This vast knowledge and ability to analyze a companys situation has made Olivia a
crucial asset to the Key Consulting team.
Consulting Specialist:
Hailey Askeland grew up in downtown Chicago, Ill. where she still resides with her husband and 2-year-old daughter. She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in both business administration

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and management communications. Subsequently obtaining her undergraduate degree,

she joined Key Consulting Firm and has been with the company for 6 years. She is currently in the process of attaining her graduate degree in consulting, with aspirations to
grow in the industry. She hopes to keep fueling her passion for people by assisting local,
community based companies and helping them thrive. She is involved in her neighborhood book club, and has a passion for historical books about the community in which
she has grown up.
Analyst:
Tim Roesch was born in Eagan, Minnesota a suburb of Minneapolis. Growing up he
had a fascination for numbers and how those numbers can affect the future. His father
was an electrical engineer at Honeywell and instilled in Tim at a young age how important accuracy and a good work ethic are. His mother was a local High School teacher
and taught Tim how valuable persistence and determination are. Tim has a Bachelors
Degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Minnesota and a Masters in
Public Planning from the University of Chicago. He lives with his wife and three sons in
the Chicago suburb of Cicero, IL. Tim will use his strong analytical skills, his excellent
problem solving proficiency and his demonstrated ability to understand the complex
metrics of financial planning and is a valued member of the Key Consulting team.
Budget:
Our knowledgeable Key Consulting team will crunch the numbers and arrive at a good,
logical timeline and budget. Please see Appendix D for a complete budget outline.
Benefits:
At Key Consulting we value local community based initiatives and the strength of independent business owners who strive to uphold the needs of the community and the
greater good. Our firm prides itself on the efficiency and timeliness (See Appendix C)
that we ensure on each project and with every client who hires us. Among our values of
timeliness and efficiency, relationship development is at the forefront of each client interaction, which we make an effort to continue well after each contract ends.
Through various methods of research, including: focus groups, surveys, interviews as
well as extensive research and analysis we will be able to determine if we think you
should modify the methods and strategies of your business, and ultimately to determine
whether or not we think you are in competition with Borders.
The Oak Park community makes up your largest target market, we realize your continuing contributions to the community. By working with Key Consulting we promise to further connect you within the Oak Park K-12 school district and the rest of the community

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by conducting distinct surveys as well as through the proposed book sharing program.
Furthermore, as a company and companion we are invested and concerned with your
success. Our consulting firm genuinely cares about the history and preservation of the
community and you as a business owner and community member. With similar values in
mind we know that you and your business will thrive should you choose to work with our
zealous and dedicated team members. We will be sure to open the door to your success.

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Appendices
Appendix A: The Wieboldt Building

Wieboldt Building designed by Holabird and Root Architects in Oak Park, IL, artists rendering

Wieboldt Building from museum catalog, photograph circa 1936

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Appendix B: Marys Books Location

Home of Marys Books in the former Marshall Fields Store in Oak Park, IL at 1144 West Lake Street

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Appendix C: Timeline

Preliminary Project Timeline

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Appendix D: Budget
The budget once finalized will go here.

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Key Consulting, Inc.

Opening the Door to your Success